Ramnarain Ruia College

Ruia College is an educational institution in the central part of Mumbai in Hindu Colony, between the Dadar and Matunga railway stations. It is home to Ramnarain Ruia College of Arts & Science and Ramnivas Ruia Junior College of Arts and Science. The college has been awarded a four star rating by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council of India. The students and alumni of Ruia are colloquially known as "Ruiaites"

The College was established in June 1937. It was the first college in Mumbai to be started by Shikshana Prasarak Mandali, Pune. It was inaugurated formally on 3rd December 1937 by the then Governor of Bombay, Sir Roger Lumley. A large part of the credit for its establishment goes to Mataji Suvratadevi Ruia and her son, Seth Ramnivas Ruia. Seth Ruia donated a sum of Rs. 2,00,000 (not adjusted for inflation) at that time, from the Ramnarain Harnandrai Charitable Trust. In recognition of this gesture, S.P. Mandali named the institution after him."Ruia college won the "best college award" given by Mumbai university for the year 2006." And it has won the trophy in the youth festival organized by Mumbai university for three times in a row.

Courses offered

* B.Sc.
* B.Sc. (Biotechnology)
* B.Sc. (Computer Science)
* B.M.M.
* B.A.
* M.Sc. (Chemisry, Biochemistry)
* M.Sc. (Biotechnology)
* M.Sc. (Computer Science)
* M.A.
* Doctoral courses in Chemistry, Physics, Botany, Zoology, Life Science and History
* Diploma in Information Technology
* Diploma in Bioinformatics
* Diploma in Travel and Tourism
* Post Graduate Diploma in Industrial Analytical Chemistry

Faculty

* Principal - Dr. Suhas Pednekar
* Vice-Principal - Dr. P.A Sathe
* Vice-Principal - Ms. Vatsala Pai
* Vice-Principal (Junior College) - Mrs. Manasi Shembekar

Heads of Department
"Languages"
* English - Dr. Anjali Bhelande.
* French - Mrs. Ruby Cerejo.
* Hindi - Mr. Dattatreya Kambale.
* Marathi - Ms. Leena Kedare.
* Sanskrit - Mrs. Manjusha Gokhale."Arts"
* Philosophy - Ms. Vatsala Pai.
* Political Science - Dr (MRS.) Chaya Bakane.
* Psychology - Ms. Vatsala Pai.
* Commerce - Ms. Urmila Prasad.
* Economics - Mrs. Mangala Tendulkar.
* History - Ms. Mohsina Mukaddam
* Logic - Mrs. Madhuri
* Sociology - Mr. Pillai"Science"
* Biochemistry - Mrs. Jyoti Vora.
* Biotechnology - Dr P. A Sathe.
* Chemistry - Dr. (Mrs.) K Raghuraman.
* Botany - Dr. (Mrs.) Behnaz Patel.
* Life Sciences - Mr. S B Pandey.
* Microbiology - Mr. R P Phadke.
* Mathematics - Mrs. Kshirsagar.
* Statistics - Mrs. J P Atre.
* Physics - Mrs. Jyoti Rao.
* Zoology - Mrs. Rohini Sivabalan.
* Computer Science - Mrs. Sushama Joshi.
* Electronics - Mrs. Sarkar

Academics

With its varied experience and diligence, the Ruia faculty was in a position to innovate and experiment soon after the college started functioning. Considerable emphasis was placed on development of the instructional programme and evaluation procedures. Under several programmes, such as COSIP (College Science Improvement Programme) and COHSSIP (College Humanities and Social Science Improvement Programme), Ruia has successfully implemented several innovative and experimental academic programmes that won wide acclaim.

The senior college library has a large reading hall which accommodates about 400 students and the reading hall in junior college building accommodates about 200 students. Special facilities to borrow books and exam papers are available in these reading halls. The "Open Shelf Library" is an important unit of the library for Graduate students, with about 30,000 books readily available to students. The sub-sections are well categorised and meticulously laid out, and book selection is such as to be of great use to students specialising in different subjects. The college also provides instructional material on audio and videocassetes to the students through the audio-visual centre and AV library.

The "Information Technology Centre" is a fully-equipped IT centre, with 60 computers for students and 9 specially for staff members, offers a variety of courses very useful to the students and faculty. The "Electronics Laboratory" is a very well-equipped electronics lab, with multiple power supplies and a den containing all the necessary components for the students, it is well-known throughout the state as one of the best electronic labs.

The "Postgraduate Study and Research Centre" is the only Centre of its kind to be established in a college in Mumbai, it provides comfortable accommodation, books, periodicals and bound copies of learned journals to postgraduate and research students. It is housed in the Ruia college library, which has a large collection of about 1,50,000 books, several of which are rare and not available elsewhere.

Another feature that distinguishes the college from others in the state is the "Marathi Medium Unit". This unit of the college was launched to tackle a problem faced by several students coming from state board and university students: inability to understand what they are taught in English (medium of instruction) as they have done their schooling in Marathi.

Co-curricular Activities

The "Vidyarthi Pratinidhi Mandal (VPM)" was founded to enable students of the college to be in close touch with the teacher and members of the management, the VPM was constituted as a student body in the year 1969. It has been highly successful in encouraging in student participation in a variety of co-curricular activities.

Numbering about 20, there are different "Co-curricular Associations" which enable students with varied interests to participate in intra- and inter-college activities and beyond, to tap their potential to the maximum. Ruia also has an excellent audiotorium that can accommodate about 400 students. Another well-equipped 150-seat auditorium, with video projection facilities, has also been setup recently.

"The Ruiaite (college magazine)" has been published annually since 1937, earning for itself a reputation far beyond the aspirations of most other college magazines. It has won several prestigious awards over the years. The "Gymkhana" is fully equipped with badminton court, shooting range and highly sophisticated exercising equipment, made available for use by the students and faculty of the college.

upport for disadvantaged students

The "Students Mutual Aid Fund (SMAF)" was started in 1948 with the intention of helping out those deserving students who required financial assistance. It now extends benefits to the economically disadvantaged students through lunch coupons,paying fees and issuing sets of books on loan. It arranges exhibitions and other programmes to augment its funds.

There is also a "Cell for Visually-Challenged Students", in which the college has provided excellent facilities for the visually challenged - Robotron to read for the students, computer to translate as well as give printouts of Braille into English and a computer to talk to these students are great assets.

Alumni

* Dr. K Kasturirangan, Former Governor of Reserve Bank of India
* Justice V P Tipnis
* Ajit Wadekar, former Indian cricket captain
* Sandeep Patil, former Indian cricketer.
* Srirang Desai, noted first-class cricketer.
* R H Mendonca, Ex-Police Commissioner of Bombay
* Manohar Joshi, Former Chief Minister of State of Maharashtra.

* Ishaa Koppikar, model and actress
* Sonali Bendre, Bollywood Actress
* Advocate Late Shri Narayan Linganna Pujari, Municipal Corporator
* Nandu M. Natekar, national level Indian badminton champion
* Manohar Bopardikar, national level Indian badminton champion [ [http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19990326/isp26090.html Indian Express (newspaper)] ]

References

ee also

* List of Mumbai Colleges

External links

* [http://www.ruiacollege.edu Official Website]
* [http://www.ruiacollege.edu/awards_&_distinctions.htm List of famous alumni]